Unlocking the Mysteries of the Arcane, 2nd edition
Magic. Enchantment. Sorcery. Witchcraft. Thaumaturgy. Our lexicon contains numerous words to describe the natural phenomena that is magic. Some mages, whose personal conceits cloud their otherwise educated minds, would say that each of these words describe different forms of the same thing; that is to say, that enchantment is one thing, witchcraft is another, and while they are both magic their similarities halt at that meager definition for their distinctions make them wholly separate fields of study.
To them I say this: Magic, is magic, is magic, is magic.
Pay no mind to my ineloquence, and instead focus your mind on the Truth of it; that the schools and philosophies that mages and hedgewizards and all the rest use to divide their crafts are wholly fiction, created by people who would rather segregate their studies than admit that their magic is the same as another’s. These divisions are nothing more than social barriers to keep minds, both young and old, from straying too far from “the right path”, as some call it. I ask you, enlightened reader, for if you are reading this than you are clearly possessing of an educated and curious mind, if you can find any real differences in the somatic, verbal, or material components used by conjurers, diviners, transmuters, or any of the rest? The outcomes are different, of course; a conjurer calls forth beasts and demons, a diviner reads portents, a transmuter changes stone to mud, but the methods by which these effects are achieved are the same.
Posit this, gentle student: what is the difference between adding sugar to oil of vitriol, against combining copper dust to an controlled flame? Many things, surely; the ingredients, the outcome of the experiment, the manner in which one substance is combined with another. These are surely important differences, but do they not both fall under the same study that which is alchemy? I argue that these alchemical experiments are in fact more dissimilar than the methods by which one hurls an orb of conjured flame versus how another may cast a spell of flight, and yet the alchemical experiments, as distinct as they are, both fall under the umbrella of alchemy and both are studied by all alchemists-in-training. I beseech you then to ask of yourself this question: why do we allow the varied studies of magic to sequester our minds and divide the study of the arcane?
The answer to that question is a matter of polity, or religion, or common superstition, which is not the purpose of this text and is wholly unrelated to the actual, practical study of magic. However, by simply asking that question we find the solution to our preceding query, that is, to reiterate and clarify, “what is the difference in the somatic, verbal, or material components by which the schools and philosophies of magical study divide themselves?” The answer, to wit, is nothing, that there is no difference, and that any differences are entirely fabricated.
Take that understanding, now, and hold it tight within your mind. That will be the guiding principle to the end of this text, as I guide you through an unbarred, all encompassing study into magic, that is, to clarify, that together we will unlock the mysteries of True Magic, whole and complete, undivided by prejudice nor superstition, and find that all magic, all schools, all philosophies, are nothing more than pieces of one whole: Arcana.
Type
Arcana
Author
Zezop Fathelton
Language
Devashin
Arcana
Author
Zezop Fathelton
Language
Devashin
Authoring Date
1079 IR
